Can Your Gym Become an Essential Business?

This fall, Planet Fitness made news when four locations in California owned by the same franchisee reopened under the designation of an “essential” business. Their tactic? Pay for a membership in the Medical Fitness Association and follow its  phased reopening guidelines, while directly contacting local health officials for permission to open.  The gyms petitioned their Public Health Services department citing adherence to reopening guidelines published by MFA and vetted through the CDC. The MFA guidelines, in some cases,are stricter than the CDC’s published work: expanding social distancing recommendations based on a population’s health risk and the type of exercise.  The effort worked for Planet Fitness and, since then, more than 500 gyms have sought membership [...]